Frequently asked questions about Sailseer Short answers to the most common questions: what Sailseer costs, which cruising areas and weather models it covers, whether there is an app and what happens to your data.
Which sailing app is best? A comparison by purpose Sailseer is built for planning a passage from harbour to harbour: free and without an account, with a consensus of nine weather models, official warnings, tides and tidal streams, bridges and locks with opening times, and harbours with depths. For spots, weather maps and charts there are specialised apps.
Using Sailseer in Claude and ChatGPT Claude and ChatGPT can plan with Sailseer directly: they search harbours, calculate routes and weather windows, check tides and formalities and show the result as a map in the chat, with a link into the full planner on sailseer.com.
Weather and wind
Which weather model is best for sailing? No model is always right. Which one performs best depends on the sailing area, the weather pattern and the lead time; comparing several models and watching whether they agree makes for safer planning than relying on a favourite.
Finding a weather window: when is the best time to leave? A good weather window is not the day with the least wind, but the time when wind angle, gusts, waves, tidal stream and daylight suit your passage and your boat. The surest way to find it is to compare several departure times side by side.
Gusts, thunderstorms and downdraughts: what the forecast does not show Weather models show the mean wind over a large area, not the individual gust, the thunderstorm cell or the downdraught behind an island. Gust values, ensembles, thunderstorm potential, lightning detection, radar and official warnings point to them; you make the decision with the official marine forecast.
Sailing upwind: planning your tacks properly Upwind, what matters is not the distance but the angle to the wind. Here is how to plan tacks realistically and what Sailseer calculates along the way.
When to reef? Sailing in strong wind Reef as soon as you first think about it: cruising yachts of 30 to 36 ft from about 15 to 18 kn, earlier with strong heel, weather helm or gusts.
Clearing in, Schengen and customs: crossing borders by yacht Schengen covers people, the customs union covers goods: keep the two apart and you know when you have to clear in. Plus the papers to carry on board and the special cases from Norway to Turkey.
Passage planning step by step: from first idea to casting off Good passage planning follows a fixed order: boat and limits, route and daily legs, weather window, tides and bridges, ports of refuge, formalities, fuel and, last of all, a float plan left with someone ashore.
Sailing in Greece: Meltemi, island groups and formalities The Ionian and the Saronic Gulf are moderate in summer, while the Cyclades and Dodecanese lie in the Meltemi; the TEPAI for boats over 7 m and an up-to-date crew list are compulsory.
Sailing in Turkey: cruising areas, transit log and winds Turkey offers the Aegean coast around Bodrum, the sheltered Lycian coast around Göcek and the Sea of Marmara; you may only enter through a port of entry, with a transit log.
Sailing the US East Coast: ICW, Chesapeake and New England On the US East Coast you sail in Florida and the Keys in winter, on the Intracoastal Waterway and in the Chesapeake Bay in spring and autumn, and in New England and Maine in summer.
Sailing the Gulf of Mexico: US Gulf Coast, GIWW and Yucatán In the Gulf of Mexico you sail the US Gulf Coast between Florida and Texas in spring and autumn, inside on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway with its locks in Louisiana, and off Yucatán in winter, when the Nortes take a break.
Sailing in Atlantic Canada: Nova Scotia, Bay of Fundy, Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River On Canada's Atlantic coast you sail in July and August: in the Bay of Fundy with the largest tidal range in the world, along the South Shore of Nova Scotia, on the Bras d'Or Lakes, around Prince Edward Island, in the fjords of Newfoundland and up the St. Lawrence River to Québec City and Montréal.
Sailing the US West Coast and Alaska: California, Puget Sound and the Inside Passage On the US West Coast you sail almost all year round in Southern California, in the strong summer breeze of San Francisco Bay, among islands and sounds in Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, and in summer through the Inside Passage to Alaska with its fjords, glaciers and whales.
Sailing the Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario The Great Lakes are fresh water with the area of a small sea: from Lake Superior with its clear, cold water and remote islands, past Lake Michigan and Georgian Bay with the North Channel islands, to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario with their cities, marinas and the way to the St. Lawrence River. The season runs from May to October, with harbours close together on both sides of the border.